Let’s be honest: the idea of having joy during trials sounds completely absurd.
When you’re losing your job, battling chronic illness, watching your marriage crumble, or burying someone you love, “consider it pure joy” feels like spiritual gaslighting.
Joy?
Really?
Now?
But here’s what Scripture isn’t saying: it’s not asking you to fake happiness. It’s not telling you to slap a smile on your face and pretend the pain doesn’t exist. It’s not promoting toxic positivity that dismisses legitimate suffering.
Biblical joy during trials is something entirely different from happiness. Happiness depends on happenings. Good circumstances make you happy. Bad circumstances steal your happiness. It’s conditional, fleeting, dependent on external factors you can’t control.
Joy, though? Joy runs deeper. It’s not about your circumstances at all. It’s about what God is doing in and through those circumstances. It’s the strange peace that coexists with pain. The unexplainable confidence that God is working even when everything feels wrong.
The defiant choice to worship in the wilderness because you know Who holds your future, even when you can’t see what’s ahead.
Joy in trials isn’t denial. It’s trust that transforms how you experience suffering.
Bible Verses About Joy In Trials
1. James 1:2-4 – Consider It Pure Joy
Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
New International Version (NIV)
2. Romans 5:3-5 – We Rejoice in Our Sufferings
Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.
New International Version (NIV)
3. 1 Peter 1:6-7 – Though You Have Suffered Grief in Trials
In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.
New International Version (NIV)
4. Nehemiah 8:10 – The Joy of the Lord Is Your Strength
Nehemiah said, “Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”
New International Version (NIV)
5. Habakkuk 3:17-18 – Yet I Will Rejoice in the Lord
Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior.
New International Version (NIV)
6. 2 Corinthians 6:10 – Sorrowful, Yet Always Rejoicing
Sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything.
New International Version (NIV)
7. Acts 16:25 – Paul and Silas Were Praying and Singing
About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.
New International Version (NIV)
8. John 16:33 – Take Heart! I Have Overcome the World
I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.
New International Version (NIV)
9. Philippians 4:4 – Rejoice in the Lord Always
Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!
New International Version (NIV)
10. Psalm 126:5-6 – Those Who Sow With Tears Will Reap With Songs of Joy
Those who sow with tears will reap with songs of joy. Those who go out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with them.
New International Version (NIV)
11. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 – Rejoice Always
Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
New International Version (NIV)
12. 2 Corinthians 7:4 – In All Our Troubles My Joy Knows No Bounds
I have spoken to you with great frankness; I take great pride in you. I am greatly encouraged; in all our troubles my joy knows no bounds.
New International Version (NIV)
13. Colossians 1:11 – Being Strengthened for All Endurance With Joy
Being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and giving joyful thanks to the Father.
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14. Matthew 5:11-12 – Rejoice and Be Glad
Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
New International Version (NIV)
15. 1 Peter 4:13 – Rejoice Inasmuch as You Participate in Christ’s Sufferings
But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.
New International Version (NIV)
16. Psalm 30:5 – Weeping May Stay for the Night, But Rejoicing Comes
For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime; weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.
New International Version (NIV)
17. Acts 5:41 – Rejoicing Because They Had Been Counted Worthy
The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name.
New International Version (NIV)
18. Romans 12:12 – Be Joyful in Hope, Patient in Affliction
Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.
New International Version (NIV)
19. 2 Corinthians 12:10 – I Delight in Weaknesses and Hardships
That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
New International Version (NIV)
20. Hebrews 10:34 – You Joyfully Accepted the Confiscation of Your Property
You suffered along with those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions.
New International Version (NIV)
21. James 5:10-11 – We Count as Blessed Those Who Have Persevered
Brothers and sisters, as an example of patience in the face of suffering, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. As you know, we count as blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.
New International Version (NIV)
22. Psalm 16:11 – You Fill Me With Joy in Your Presence
You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.
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23. 1 Peter 1:8 – You Are Filled With an Inexpressible and Glorious Joy
Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy.
New International Version (NIV)
24. 2 Corinthians 8:2 – Their Overflowing Joy Welled Up in Rich Generosity
In the midst of a very severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity.
New International Version (NIV)
25. Hebrews 12:2 – For the Joy Set Before Him He Endured the Cross
Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
New International Version (NIV)
26. Luke 6:22-23 – Rejoice in That Day and Leap for Joy
Blessed are you when people hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their ancestors treated the prophets.
New International Version (NIV)
27. Philippians 2:17-18 – I Am Glad and Rejoice With All of You
But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you. So you too should be glad and rejoice with me.
New International Version (NIV)
28. 3 John 1:4 – I Have No Greater Joy
I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.
New International Version (NIV)
29. Psalm 43:4 – God, My Joy and My Delight
Then I will go to the altar of God, to God, my joy and my delight. I will praise you with the lyre, O God, my God.
New International Version (NIV)
30. Romans 15:13 – May the God of Hope Fill You With All Joy
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
New International Version (NIV)
31. Psalm 28:7 – My Heart Leaps for Joy
The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and he helps me. My heart leaps for joy, and with my song I praise him.
New International Version (NIV)
32. John 15:11 – That My Joy May Be in You
I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.
New International Version (NIV)
33. Galatians 5:22 – The Fruit of the Spirit Is Joy
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness.
New International Version (NIV)
34. Psalm 118:24 – This Is the Day the Lord Has Made
The Lord has done it this very day; let us rejoice today and be glad.
New International Version (NIV)
35. Zephaniah 3:17 – He Will Rejoice Over You With Singing
The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.
New International Version (NIV)
Our Thoughts On What the Bible Says About Joy In Trials
Joy in trials doesn’t mean you’re happy about the trial. It means you’re choosing to see beyond the trial to what God is doing through it.
Paul and Silas sang hymns in prison at midnight, their backs bloody from beatings. That’s not because they enjoyed being beaten. It’s because they refused to let their circumstances define their worship.
The testing of your faith produces something valuable: perseverance, character, hope. Trials aren’t meaningless suffering. They’re refining fire that burns away what’s superficial and strengthens what’s genuine. Gold is refined by fire. So is faith.
This kind of joy is supernatural. It’s not something you can manufacture through positive thinking. It comes from the Holy Spirit working in you, producing fruit that makes no earthly sense. It’s being sorrowful yet always rejoicing. Suffering yet singing. Broken yet whole.
You can’t fake this joy. But you can ask for it. You can choose to fix your eyes on Jesus rather than your circumstances. You can worship in the wilderness. You can thank God for what He’s doing that you can’t see yet.
Say This Prayer
Heavenly Father, I’m struggling to find any joy in what I’m going through right now.
This trial hurts. It’s hard. It’s not what I wanted or expected. I don’t understand why this is happening or how anything good could come from it. The command to consider it pure joy feels impossible.
But Your Word says that testing produces perseverance, and perseverance produces character, and character produces hope. Help me to trust that You’re working even when I can’t see it. Give me supernatural joy that doesn’t depend on my circumstances but flows from Your Spirit in me.
I don’t want to fake happiness. I want real joy that coexists with real pain. The kind Paul and Silas had when they sang hymns in prison. The kind that makes people ask how you can worship in the wilderness. The kind that defies logic because it’s rooted in You, not in my situation.
Fill me with the kind of joy that comes from knowing You’re with me, that You’re working all things for good, that this trial isn’t wasted. Let me rejoice not in the suffering itself but in Who You are and what You’re doing through it.
Be my strength when mine fails. Be my joy when circumstances steal mine.
In Jesus’ Triumphant Name, Amen.